RSVP - The Road Home

Every choral group aspires to make a CD, a permanent monument to the best performances they can muster. And there have probably been hundreds, maybe thousands, of CDs made by choruses throughout the world in recent years, and I’ll bet that most of them are outstanding efforts. But few get promoted beyond members, family, friends, and audiences. It makes you wonder how many deserve national recognition.

I think I’ve found one.

Rocklin (CA)-based RSVP, Reconciliation Singers Voices of Peace, is a community-centered mixed choir, composed of professional or semi-professional singers. All their concerts are designed to benefit some local (or sometimes distant or national) charity. And they present an eclectic mix of music that is always of professional quality.

That’s especially true of their new CD, The Road Home. I’ve just finished listening to it 4 times: 2 in the car and 2 through headphones in my office, and I’m truly impressed. The music is all contemporary (as far as I can tell), but quite varied – with styles that might be described as jazz, folk, “classical,” and pop, and others that I just can’t characterize. Going in, the composers I was familiar with were Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, and Franz Biebl, but none of those for the remaining 12 tracks were familiar to me. And that’s great, because I was introduced to some amazing new music. And it wasn’t just the music that I found so appealing: I encountered lyrics that were profound or touching or wonderfully playful. I found the track called “How Can I Cry?” to be particularly moving. And the title track, “The Road Home” is sweet enough to bring tears to one’s eyes.

The thing that struck me about this collection, though, apart from the diversity of music and and the versatility of RSVP, was the consistent professional quality. The directing was so very sensitive, the blend of the voices was so satisfying, and the accuracy of pitches and purity of sound so engaging that the whole thing just carried me to a different place. I have to add that there is a soprano in the group (or maybe more than one) who delivered high notes of such purity that I found myself looking forward to every time she had the opportunity to do her thing. And that’s saying a lot, coming from a bass. I especially enjoyed hearing her in the track called “Voice Dance.”

If you take my advice and purchase this CD, please don’t just play it in your car stereo and put it aside. Listen to it through headphones (or earbuds). It makes such a difference when you can hear the choir members breathe. In fact, I think the sound of the breathing could perhaps be considered part of the music. And with the headphones, you pick up more of the lyrics and the beautiful nuances that characterize each of these pieces.

This modest choir, under the direction of founder Julie Adams, is committed to doing good works. And The Road Home is really good work. You can find out more about RSVP and order the CD through their website, www.rsvpchoir.org.